Lily Snow
Personality Lily Snow almost seems to have a dual personality. Like a social chameleon her personality shifts to fit the occasion and the person, though she still manages to hold herself in check most of the time. On the surface she is open, friendly and quite warm. She tries to be charming, giving herself a graceful laissez-faire attitude and a playful quality to her regality. She is also a good liar, a very good liar, to the point where it is difficult to ever really know what is in her heart and what she truly thinks. One has to wonder at times where her loyalties really lie; but she is always reassuring in the ways she manages to wipe out these doubts. She is still hurt over the loss of her lover and so she still keeps her distance when it comes to people and humanity in general, though she never lets them know that. She is still entertained by the excitement of human life; the rich wines, the rich food, the creativity and the arts. The woman is more than willing to wile away her immortality singing in small bars and cheap lounges, drinking good wine and simply enjoying the full sensuous life of a lush. It's a shame that she is a little bit off-kilter and has lost enough of her humanity to regard the remainder of the human race as little more than living dolls to play and experiment with. Life is a stage and she fully intends to live out her small part in her own amusing ways. Sheet Attributes: : Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 4, Stamina 2 : Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 4, Appearance 4 : Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 3, Wits 3 Abilities: : Talents: Dodge 1, Empathy 3, Expression 2, Intimidation 4, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 4 : Skills: Animal Ken 3, Etiquette 3, Firearms 1, Melee 1, Performance 5 : Knowledges: Academics 2, Linguistics 3 Advantages: : Virtues: Conscience 2, Self Control 4, Courage 4 : Disciplines: Melpominee 4, Presence 1 : Backgrounds: Generation 4, Resources 2, Retainers 2 : Humanity: 4 : Willpower: 7 : Merits: Enchanting Voice 2, Eat Food 1, Blush of Health 2 : Flaws: Sire's Resentment 1, Prey Exclusion 1, Notoriety 3 Freebies: : Manipulation (5), Dexterity (10), Intimidation (2), Subterfuge (2), Etiquette (4), Performance (4), Melpominee (7), Presence (7), Resources (1), Willpower (3), Enchanting Voice (2), Eat Food (1), Blush of Health (2). (50) : Sire's Resentment (-1), Prey Exclusion (-1), Notoriety (-3). (-5) : (45) Freebies Spent. Humanity -2 due to old age and experience. Specialties ; Subterfuge : Lying. She is good at hiding the truth when she wants to, very good, she gives lie detectors a hard time. ; Performance : Singing. Lily is a fantastic singer who has been trained by some of the greatest over the centuries, giving her a wide range of styles. Though it isn't her specialty, she can dance and play the piano and the harp. ; Linguistics : Italian, French, Spanish and Russian. ; Intimidation : Fear. No one is sure what she does exactly but her preferred method is to whisper something in the person's ear; some say she sings to them the songs she hears in her head, some claim she threatens them with things that goes far beyond the average imagination. Whatever it is, she seems to find the right way and the right words to cause a person to shake in his boots. ; Academics : Literature. Lily is a fan of literature, both classic and contemporary. She has a vast array of knowledge and has even read theorists and philosophies that relates to them. ; Appearance : Glamorous. Well put-together; the type of timeless beauty that looks good no matter what she's doing. Even when bloodied and covered in gore and mud it still looks like it was done intentionally with make-up artists. ; Manipulation : Deceitful. Whether intentionally or not, Lily is very good about keeping her true thoughts and emotions from being expressed. Incredibly good. ; Dexterity : Graceful. Lily tends to hold herself up with a certain poise and grace; even when she curls up or stretches she makes it look dramatically elegant. Merits & Flaws ; Enchanting Voice : Lily's voice is quite beautiful and the range she can accomplish is incredible, which is only further enhanced by the centuries of training she has received. She can go from deep and husky, perfect for the blues and jazz to ethereal and hypnotic, perfect for choir and maddening music. Her unique adaptability was what had caught her Sire's attention. ; Eat Food : Thanks to her general love of good drinks and good food that fueled her lush life, Lily never really lost her sense of taste and trained her body to keep the food down for a while. ; Sire's Resentment : She has turned Jackson Snow without the notifying her Sire nor the other Daughters of Cacophony. Aside from the fact that she did it in secret, Lily also turned a man and taught him Melpominee. Upon this discovery he was purged and she earned her Sire's resentment for staining her Sire's name and reputation over a silly boy. The Contessa has power in Europe and has a lot of allies and friends in the United States, mainly in large cities. ; Prey Exclusion : Mainly she can't feed on piano-players as they remind her too much of her lover Jackson Snow, and suffice to say it brings up enough painful memories for her to avoid them. She is even reluctant to feed on any musician if she can help it. (Musician and piano-player being defined as someone with a 2+ in performance concerning musical instruments, decent-to-professional level rather than just a hobbyist.) ; Notoriety : Since she once hid the fact that she Sired a man, against their wishes, and taught him Melpominee, Lily has had it bad with the rest of the Daughters of Cacophony. She is no longer considered a true Daughter of Cacophony and has essentially been kicked out; it's a surprise they haven't killed her really, though those who are closest to her Sire may still want to. Backgrounds ; Retainers : 2 Ghouled Dobermans nick named 'The Boys'. The dogs are actually called Samson and Goliath. They are incredibly healthy and she takes great care of them. They are well trained attack dogs and are quite protective of her. ; Resources : She works at night as a singer and has been doing so for a very long time in various avenues over the years. Unfortunately lounge singers don't make as much money as they used to and Lily does love to live life lavishly. She owns a decent one bedroom apartment and has sun-proofed it completely; you never know. ; Generation : Lily was turned by one of the first Daughters of Cacophony, Contessa Sofia de Medici, in the middle of the 19th Century. Sofia is very well connected and one of the most highly reputable Daughters of Cacophony in Europe. She also has connections in America though they are mainly in the bigger cities with known musical backgrounds (mainly New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Seattle.) History My life during what you now call the Victorian era was nothing impressive or as fantastical as all these latest books would have you believe. It was much more complex but far more dirty as well. I was the daughter of a mistress and her lover, a Sir Reginald Crawfry, newly Knighted by the Queen. Born as Violet Jane Collins, I was raised from as early as I could remember to become a mistress myself, though my mother had hoped that I would catch the eyes of a Baron or higher. Sir Crawfry took great care of us despite our positions; back then mistresses were far more common and accepted. We lived a decent life with money to buy beautiful dresses and an education for myself. I was taught to read and write, mathematics, French and Italian. My mother ensured that I would take music lessons and learned to dance as well. Most of all, however, I was taught how to put on a mask, how to lie in order to entertain and never show my true intentions; I was to be presented as the perfect lady in order to snag the Baron. It was during one of my music lessons that they had discovered my voice. I still remember the look on their faces when I sang oh so sweetly with such a smug little smile on my lips. From then on I was prompted to sing in front of guests at every party my mother and her Knight held. Back then the music was dull, nothing like it is now, but it was geared to flaunt the talent of someone's voice, and flaunt I did. Eventually word of my singing spread, just as my mother had hoped, and I was invited to attend a certain Baron's party. That is when I realized how crafty my mother has been and how easily she manipulated the circles of society. I was about twenty when I attended that party. I am not shy to say that I was quite beautiful as well. I have had men swooning at my feet and professing their love, but mother had taught me well: "keep your eyes on the Baron and he could be yours; don't fall in the same trap that I had fallen and love the first man to utter the right words." When I stepped into the party in my ruffled dress and my dark hair curled around my head I was immediately noticed and murmured about. I kept my eyes on the Baron, however, and remained coy but shy, just as instructed. When I sang to him there was no denying the awe that was felt in that room. What I didn't realize, however, was that there was someone else more transfixed than he was. Contessa Sofia de Medici. I didn't know who she was then but she was introduced to me as a very close friend of the Baron. She proclaimed that she had loved my voice and marveled at the range I had for someone still young and inexperienced. Sofia told us that she loved music herself and was a famous singer back in Italy. In fact she had come all the way to England in order to sing for the Queen. She was so impressed by my voice that she wanted to see me again. The next night I did meet her, alone as requested. She gave me a sheet of music and told me to sing the notes exactly as I saw them. It was jumbled, convoluted, messy and haunting. I sang it just as I saw it; when I was done I was shocked by the blood that dripped down her eyes as she murmured "that's it, that is the exact voice, the exact song I hear in my head." She said that she had finally found someone who understood. She had turned me that night. I don't remember if it was against my will or not; to tell you the truth I barely remember what happened. A part of me believed that she had used her ability to entrance people on me to make it easier. Whatever the case may be it was done. From then on I heard the music in my head too. It wasn't the same but constantly shifting, changing. I loved it at first but it slowly drove me mad until even the madness stabilized, but that is another story. The gift of immortality was thrilling and my thirst was easily quenched by her retainers. She was a powerful woman, and I never realized how powerful until I met the other Daughters of Cacophony. While I stayed with the Contessa she further taught me how to sing and trained my voice. Slowly, but surely, living with her and the notion of immortality opened my eyes to a life of utter debauchery. The things I have done and witnessed would have made the hardest heart skip a beat; but that was back then, when the laws weren't as solid and human life was considered cheap and overflowing. I enjoyed that life for a long while. We traveled to France, to Russia, to Italy and Spain. We started new lives in every new country we set our foot on. Whenever enough time has slipped that our lack of aging became suspicious, we moved on and gathered new names. It was a lot easier back then. I was given free reign to come and go as I please around the 1900s. I had gathered enough of a fortune to build my own network of identities and aliases. I learned to control my voice, posture and the way I hold myself, so much so that I learned to make others fear me, despite being a young woman in a world ruled by men. Of course, it was a lot easier to scare them off once I learned how to whisper from afar and sing songs that drove them mad. Still, by 1911 I was tired of Europe. Politics brewed heavily, war was on the horizon and I wanted to start fresh in a new place. I set sail to America and moved to the south where I heard about the emergence of the Delta Blues. Now, as a pretty, young, white woman with no husband I didn't think I would get far, but I was surprised by their willingness to explore new sounds. They were open to any music they felt was justified. I became Josephine Walker, a poor girl from Mississippi. I stayed there for about fifteen years before I decided to move further south. With the emergence of jazz and swing in the 1920s New Orleans attracted my attention. I spent some of the best years of my life down there during the Prohibition; of course it was also when I met him. Jackson Snow, his name still has an affect on me. I was working at a speakeasy, singing to entertain the various drunkards that attended. He was new in town and wanted a job playing the piano. My boss told him that he had to play a song for us during one of our busy times to see if his clientele liked Jackson's type of music. Jackson agreed. What he played, the way he played it, his fingers across the keys; it was all perfect, so perfect that I haven't felt this moved by music in a long time. It altered the music in my head, made me listen to his instead. Somehow he has managed to play my madness. I cried then, just as Sofia had with me. I don't want to bore you with stories of how we fell in love, but fell in love we did. It was harsh back then though, a black man and a white woman was rarely ever accepted but we didn't care, we had our music. While I was singing on the stage he played the piano next to me, it was wonderful, ecstatic. For once in a long time I felt alive, I felt human. He gave me back my lost humanity. I stayed with him for about eight to ten years; in those times we lived a rather domestic life. We raised two Dobermans together, sang together, kept each other grounded. I still remember the day, however, when I noticed the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes, apparent even when he wasn't smiling. It was then that I realized his mortality. Reminded of how and why Sofia picked me to be her Childe, I felt that I had a similar if not stronger connection with Jackson. Surely it can't be wrong. Surely the Daughters would understand that as long as he has the gift to hear our music that he should be one of us. Unfortunately they didn't and Sofia denied my request to turn him. They laughed at me and mocked me, told me that my love for him would soon pass; every vampire goes through their first love like this. I wasn't ready to let him pass on however. I wanted him, with every part of me I wanted him and wanted him to remain with me. So, I did what I thought I had to do, I turned him myself and kept it a secret. What did the Daughters care? I was the only one in New Orleans back then, no one had to know. He knew I was a vampire for a while by then, however I didn't ask for his permission when I turned him. Once he realized what happened he was angry. He didn't want to be turned apparently. While I embraced immortality when I became a vampire he feared it. However, eventually he realized why I did it and eventually he accepted it. We stayed together for only a year. In that short year I taught him how to sing the maddening songs we heard and to whisper from afar. Unfortunately we didn't last long. We were discovered by another Childe of my Sire. Elizabeth Thompson was visiting me to see how my progress with my 'loving human' was. It was impossible to hide the fact that he was no longer human, and Elizabeth's rage killed him. Before I had a chance to defend myself and defend him, Elizabeth drove a stake through his heart and decapitated him. In my anguish I screamed into her ear, directly into it. It was enough to stun her and I managed to scramble out to save my own life. The Contessa still loved me and my voice; no one else had touched her so deeply, but her rage and her hatred after the betrayal wouldn't allow her to to forgive me either. I was cast out of the Daughters of Cacophony. The Contessa and her friends, well, I don't know what they would do to me if they found me, so I had to make sure that I wouldn't be found. After Jackson's death I was lost. I had him for far less time than I would have if I hadn't Sired him, and that notion was enough to hurt me. I started to kill again when it was necessary, I ghouled the Dobermans to keep me company and to keep me safe as I slid back to how I was when I was first turned. With my masks in place, the madness of my music in my mind, and the realization that my immortality casts me as a higher being then those mortals below me, I lost what humanity Jackson had given me. I was alone and perhaps that is how I was meant to be. I changed my name to Lilith Snow and moved to Colorado's Crystal Springs in the early 40s. It was a comparably quiet place back then, away from the Daughters' attentions. There was a lot of activity with the other vampire groups that started to migrate there too but I ignored them as much as I could while I kept busy singing in lounges. The Camarilla still found me and approached me with the assurance that if I cause no trouble I was allowed to stay and remain independent. I did help, however, when they required information to hunt down the nasty creatures that littered the city during the Hope-Drinker's War; I did not mind doing it since it lets me keep my peace, after all it was the least that I could do to ensure that they remain strong so that I would not be bothered by the others. Once Hope-Drinker was defeated, however, the city didn't remain quiet for very long. During the Silent War the younger vampires were dying out rapidly and it soon became obvious that tension was still strong. I remained hidden for the most part and broke contact with everyone to ensure my isolation and my survival. I don't know what happened since then, though even rumors of the Namebreaker War reached me; still, I remained quiet and simply watched. I had time on my hands after all, I could afford to be patient. Since then things have settled more comfortably and I have grown bored of my quiet life; I figure it is time to take a peek and see what else is in store for Crystal Springs. Category:Past PCs